Ofori-Atta, seven others face charges in alleged GHS1.4 billion SML procurement case
The state has filed 78 counts of corruption and corruption-related offences against former Finance Minister Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta and seven others, accusing them of orchestrating a multi-year scheme to wrongfully secure lucrative government contracts for Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML).
The case — The Republic v Kenneth Ofori-Atta and 7 Others — filed before the Criminal Division of the High Court, outlines what prosecutors describe as a coordinated “criminal enterprise” involving senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), as well as executives of SML.
According to the charge sheet, Mr Ofori-Atta (A1), his former Chef de Cabinet Ernest Darko Akore (A2), former GRA Commissioner-General Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3), his successor Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4), former Commissioners of the Customs Division Isaac Crentsil (A5) and Kwadwo Damoah (A6), and SML’s Chief Executive and beneficial owner Evans Adusei (A7), conspired to improperly influence procurement processes to favour SML (A8).
Prosecutors say the alleged scheme, which began in 2017, involved securing a series of contracts for transaction audits, external price verification, petroleum sector measurement audits, upstream petroleum audits, and minerals audit services — despite “no genuine need” for the services and without the mandatory statutory approvals required from Parliament and the Public Procurement Authority.
The state alleges that the accused public officials “freely abused their offices for private benefit”, relied on “false and unverified claims” to justify the contracts, and ensured payments to SML continued “on automatic mode” without any financial management system to verify performance.
Investigators estimate that these actions caused a financial loss of GH¢1.436 billion to the state. Prosecutors further contend that, had the scheme not been interrupted by a petition to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) in December 2023 and subsequent government interventions, the accused intended for an additional US$2.8 billion to be paid to SML over five years also without required parliamentary approval.
The charge sheet states that the accused falsely claimed SML possessed unique technical expertise and patented technology capable of significantly boosting government revenue in the petroleum and minerals sectors.
The case follows nearly two years of investigations by the OSP, which prompted the temporary suspension of the contracts in January 2024 and a presidential directive in October 2025 ordering their termination.
All eight accused individuals and the company have now been formally charged and are expected to appear before the High Court as proceedings begin.
